ABSTRACT
It does not interest us much, for the purpose of studying sex, to inquire whether man is of one species only, or more. During slavery times it was customary to assert that the negro race was an inferior species, and the argument used was that whites and negroes could not perfectly interbreed; that the mulattoes became infertile and could not reproduce their kind between themselves, although interbreeding between mulatto and either white or black took place readily. Thus, white men could procreate with mulatto women, to produce quadroons and again, octoroons, etc., while mulatto women with mulatto mates remained sterile. This was probably merely claimed to justify the theory that the negro race was of a different species, and thus to justify slavery, and the statements were not based on correct premises or on facts.
